"All right! I'm extraordinary! What of it? "

March 20, 2010 5:59 PM

How can I listen to televised movies on my computer?

I like to listen to movies, especially when I'm working on my computer. Lawrence of Arabia is on Turner Classic Movies right now, and I'm digging it. (ouch, no pun intended) The television is in a room adjacent to my office. I do not want a t.v. in my office. I find it vastly entertaining to listen, as opposed to wasting time watching.
I'm not even sure how to phrase this:
is there any way I can get TCM's audio streaming through my MacIntosh? I run Leopard OS X 10.5.8, if that matters.

I do not wish to buy any add-on to enable this, and there's no way to run a cable between the television and this computer (too much space in between.)

And if you're wondering "why not just pop in a DVD into the Mac, kill the video and listen away" it's just not the same thing. I like the randomness of whatever's coming on TCM, and the effect of dialogue wafting in and out of my conciousness, the same way some people like to fall asleep to televised movies, (only I'm hard at work, see.)

Yes, I have iTunes, but I searched around the TV tab, and found nothing TV-audio related.
Help?

posted by BostonTerrier to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

A fellow was today telling me about a setup he has to send the audio from the TV to a headset he's wearing, wirelessly. How about that? He said it cost around $200 but I didn't get a brand name out of him. I'm sure someone at BestBuy can help.
posted by meadowlark lime at 6:04 PM on March 20, 2010

Get a radio that can tune into TV sound. Plug the computer speakers into the headphone jack on the radio.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:18 PM on March 20, 2010

Here are the ones you want.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:22 PM on March 20, 2010

These Sennheiser wireless headphones offer great sound reproduction from the next room over. I use them at night to listen to the TV in the family room while working on my laptop in the dining room. Great solution if you're willing to wear a pair of cans.
posted by prinado at 6:24 PM on March 20, 2010

Best answer: Not exactly what you asked for, but this is excellent for streaming titles: listentoamovie.com
posted by susanvance at 6:58 PM on March 20, 2010

Funny, I was just shopping for a wireless headset to wear around the apartment this afternoon. It's probably what you're looking for. You plug a receiver into the TV or your computer and wear the headset wherever you please. The Sennheiser RS-110s look good for the price but you can find RS-120s for about 5 bucks more and RS-130s for about $30 more. (These have slightly better range, as I understand.) That's up around $100, and if you want you can drop hundreds on a super-high quality, double extra gizmo-studded set, but... From what I've read the low-end Sennheisers will work well but perhaps not perfectly around other RF devices around the house. All the other brands in the price range aren't reviewed as positively. Anyway, if you see a deal that's too good to be true, it is—they're usually only the headset (additional headset) and don't come with the receiver. Watch out.
posted by carsonb at 7:03 PM on March 20, 2010

Do you have another computer (like a laptop) that you can put near the TV? You could use a 3.5mm-to-RCA cable (like this) to send the audio from the TV to the computer's line-in jack, and then stream it wirelessly to your office using VLC.
posted by teraflop at 7:42 PM on March 20, 2010

Penguin's recommendations only work for broadcast TV, not for cable.

carsonb is on the right track. Plug a thing into the TV's headphone jack, and then wirelessly transmit it to a sound reproduction device. By which I mean portable headhones or portable speakers.
posted by intermod at 9:35 PM on March 20, 2010